Mary Celeste (/səˈlɛst/) (often erroneously referred to as Marie Celeste[1]) was an American merchant brigantine discovered adrift and deserted in the Atlantic Ocean off the Azores Islands on December 4, 1872. The Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia found her in a dishevelled but seaworthy condition under partial sail and with her lifeboat missing. The last entry in her log was dated ten days earlier. She had left New York City for Genoa on November 7 and was still amply provisioned when found. Her cargo of denatured alcohol was intact, and the captain's and crew's personal belongings were undisturbed. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard from again.Mary Celeste was built in Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia, and launched under British registration as Amazon in 1861. She was transferred to American ownership and registration in 1868, when she acquired her new name. Thereafter she sailed uneventfully until her 1872 voyage. At the salvage hearings in Gibraltar following her recovery, the court's officers considered various possibilities of foul play, including mutiny by Mary Celeste's crew, piracy by the Dei Gratia crew or others, and conspiracy to carry out insurance or salvage fraud. No convincing evidence supported these theories, but unresolved suspicions led to a relatively low salvage award.

The inconclusive nature of the hearings fostered continued speculation as to the nature of the mystery, and the story has repeatedly been complicated by false detail and fantasy. Hypotheses that have been advanced include the effects on the crew of alcohol fumes rising from the cargo, submarine earthquakes, waterspouts, attack by a giant squid, and paranormal intervention.

After the Gibraltar hearings, Mary Celeste continued in service under new owners. In 1885, her captain deliberately wrecked her off the coast of Haiti as part of an attempted insurance fraud. The story of her 1872 abandonment has been recounted and dramatized many times in documentaries, novels, plays, and films, and the name of the ship has become a byword for unexplained desertion. In 1884, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement", a short story based on the mystery, but spelled the vessel's name as Marie Celeste. The story's popularity led to the spelling becoming more common than the original in everyday use.

Contents

- 1Early history

- 1.1New owners, new name

- 1.2Captain Briggs and crew

- 2Abandonment

- 2.1New York

- 2.2Derelict

- 3Gibraltar salvage hearings

- 4Proposed solutions

- 4.1Foul play

- 4.2Lifeboat

- 4.3Natural phenomena

- 5Myths and false histories

- 6Later career and final voyage

- 7Legacy and commemorations

- 8See also

- 9Notes and references

- 9.1Notes

- 9.2Citations

- 9.3Sources

- 10External links

Early history[edit]

Spencer's Island, photographed in 2011

The keel of the future Mary Celeste was laid in late 1860 at the shipyard of Joshua Dewis in the village of Spencer's Island, on the shores of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.[2] The ship was constructed of locally felled timber, with two masts, and was rigged as a brigantine; she was carvel-built, with the hull planking flush rather than overlapping.[3] She was launched on May 18, 1861, given the name Amazon, and registered at nearby Parrsboro on June 10, 1861. Her registration documents described her as 99.3 feet (30.3 m) in length, 25.5 feet (7.8 m) broad, with a depth of 11.7 feet (3.6 m), and of 198.42 gross tonnage.[4][5] She was owned by a local consortium of nine people, headed by Dewis; among the co-owners was Robert McLellan, the ship's first captain.[6]

For her maiden voyage in June 1861, Amazon sailed to Five Islands to take on a cargo of timber for passage across the Atlantic to London.[a] After supervising the ship's loading, Captain McLellan fell ill; his condition worsened, and Amazon returned to Spencer's Island where McLellan died on June 19.[8][9] John Nutting Parker took over as captain, and resumed the voyage to London, in the course of which Amazon encountered further misadventures. She collided with fishing equipment in the narrows off Eastport, Maine, and after leaving London ran into and sank a brig in the English Channel.[8]

Parker remained in command for two years, during which Amazon worked mainly in the West Indies trade. She crossed the Atlantic to France in November 1861,[7] and in Marseille was the subject of a painting, possibly by Honoré de Pellegrin, a well-known maritime artist of the Marseilles School.[10][11] In 1863 Parker was succeeded by William Thompson, who remained in command until 1867.[8] These were quiet years; Amazon's mate later recalled that, "We went to the West Indies, England and the Mediterranean—what we call the foreign trade. Not a thing unusual happened."[7] In October 1867, at Cape Breton Island, Amazon was driven ashore in a storm, and was so badly damaged that her owners abandoned her as a wreck.[12] On October 15, she was acquired as a derelict by Alexander McBean, of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia.[13][14]

New owners, new name[edit]

Within a month, McBean sold the wreck to a local businessman, who in November 1868, sold it to Richard W. Haines, an American mariner from New York.[15] Haines paid US$1,750 for the wreck, and then spent $8,825 restoring it.[16] He made himself her captain, and in December 1868 registered her with the Collector of Customs in New York as an American vessel, under a new name, Mary Celeste.[15][b]

In October 1869, the ship was seized by Haines's creditors,[18] and sold to a New York consortium headed by James H. Winchester. During the next three years, the composition of this consortium changed several times, although Winchester retained at least a half-share throughout. There is no record of Mary Celeste's trading activities during this period.[15] Early in 1872, the ship underwent a major refit, costing $10,000, which enlarged her considerably. Her length was increased to 103 feet (31 m), her breadth to 25.7 feet (7.8 m) and her depth to 16.2 feet (4.9 m).[19][20] Among the structural changes, a second deck was added; an inspector's report refers to extensions to the poop deck, new transoms and the replacement of many timbers.[15] The work increased the ship's tonnage to 282.28. On October 29, 1872, the consortium was made up of Winchester with six-twelfths and two minor investors with one-twelfth apiece, with the remaining four-twelfths held by the ship's new captain, Benjamin Spooner Briggs.[21]

Captain Briggs and crew[edit]

Benjamin Briggs was born in Wareham, Massachusetts, on April 24, 1835, one of five sons of sea captain Nathan Briggs. All but one of the sons went to sea, two becoming captains.[22] Benjamin was an observant Christian who read the Bible regularly and often bore witness to his faith at prayer meetings.[23] In 1862, he married his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Cobb, and enjoyed a Mediterranean honeymoon on board his schooner Forest King. Two children were born: son Arthur in September 1865, and daughter Sophia Matilda in October 1870.[24]

By the time of Sophia's birth, Briggs had achieved a high standing within his profession.[25] Nevertheless, he considered retiring from the sea to go into business with his seafaring brother Oliver, who had also grown tired of the wandering life. They did not proceed with this project, but instead each invested his savings in a share of a ship: Oliver in Julia A. Hallock, and Benjamin in Mary Celeste.[24][c] In October 1872, Benjamin took command of Mary Celeste for her first voyage following her extensive New York refit, which was to take her to Genoa in Italy. He arranged for his wife and infant daughter to accompany him,[27] while his school-aged son was left at home with his grandmother.[28]

Briggs chose the crew for this voyage with care.[29] First mate Albert G. Richardson was married to a niece of Winchester and had sailed under Briggs before.[30] Second mate Andrew Gilling, aged about 25, was born in New York, and was of Danish extraction.[31] The steward, newly married Edward William Head, was signed on with a personal recommendation from Winchester. The four general seamen were all Germans from the Frisian Islands: the brothers Volkert and Boz Lorenzen, Arian Martens, and Gottlieb Goudschaal. A later testimonial described them as "peaceable and first-class sailors."[29] In a letter to his mother shortly before the voyage, Briggs declared himself eminently satisfied with ship and crew.[29] Sarah Briggs informed her mother that the crew appeared to be quietly capable "... if they continue as they have begun".[32]

Abandonment[edit]

New York[edit]

A painting by George McCord of New York harbor in the 19th century

On October 20, 1872, Briggs arrived at Pier 50 on the East River in New York City[33] to supervise the loading of the ship's cargo of 1,701 barrels of denatured alcohol;[34][35] his wife and baby daughter joined him a week later.[24] On Sunday, November 3, Briggs wrote to his mother to say that he intended to leave on Tuesday, adding that "our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shall have a fine passage."[36]

On Tuesday morning, Mary Celeste left Pier 50 with Briggs, his wife and daughter, and seven crew members, and moved into New York Harbor. The weather was uncertain, and Briggs decided to wait for better conditions. He anchored the ship just off Staten Island,[37] where Sarah used the delay to send a final letter to her mother-in-law. "Tell Arthur," she wrote, "I make great dependence on the letters I shall get from him, and will try to remember anything that happens on the voyage which he would be pleased to hear."[38] The weather eased two days later, and Mary Celeste left the harbor and entered the Atlantic.[37]

While Mary Celeste prepared to sail, the Canadian brigantine Dei Gratia lay nearby in Hoboken, New Jersey, awaiting a cargo of petroleum destined for Genoa via Gibraltar.[39] Captain David Morehouse and first mate Oliver Deveau were Nova Scotians, both highly experienced and respected seamen.[40] Captains Briggs and Morehouse shared common interests, and some writers think it likely that they knew each other, if only casually.[35] Some accounts assert that they were close friends who dined together on the evening before Mary Celeste's departure, but the evidence for this is limited to a recollection by Morehouse's widow 50 years after the event.[37][41][d] Dei Gratia departed for Gibraltar on November 15, following the same general route eight days after Mary Celeste.[40]

Derelict[edit]

A map of the North Atlantic

Discovery position, Dec 4

Discovery position, Dec 4

Last log position, Nov 25

Last log position, Nov 25

New York

New York

Genoa

Genoa

Location map

Dei Gratia had reached a position of 38°20′N 17°15′W, midway between the Azores and the coast of Portugal at about 1 pm on Wednesday, December 4, 1872, land time (Thursday, December 5, sea time).[e][45] Captain Morehouse came on deck and the helmsman reported a vessel about 6 miles (9.7 km) distant, heading unsteadily towards Dei Gratia. The ship's erratic movements and the odd set of her sails led Morehouse to suspect that something was wrong.[44] As the vessel drew close, he could see nobody on deck, and he received no reply to his signals, so he sent Deveau and second mate John Wright in a ship's boat to investigate. The pair established that this was the Mary Celeste by the name on her stern;[46] they then climbed aboard and found the ship deserted. The sails were partly set and in a poor condition, some missing altogether, and much of the rigging was damaged with ropes hanging loosely over the sides. The main hatch cover was secure, but the fore and lazarette hatches were open, their covers beside them on the deck. The ship's single lifeboat was a small yawl that had apparently been stowed across the main hatch, but it was missing, while the binnacle housing the ship's compass had shifted from its place and its glass cover was broken.[47] There was about 3.5 feet (1.1 m) of water in the hold, a significant but not alarming amount for a ship of this size.[48] A makeshift sounding rod (a device for measuring the amount of water in the hold) was found abandoned on the deck.[49]

They found the ship's daily log in the mate's cabin, and its final entry was dated at 8 a.m. on November 25, nine days earlier. It recorded Mary Celeste's position then as 37°01′N 25°01′W off Santa Maria Island in the Azores, nearly 400 nautical miles (740 km) from the point where Dei Gratia encountered her.[44] Deveau saw that the cabin interiors were wet and untidy from water that had entered through doorways and skylights, but were otherwise in reasonable order. He found personal items scattered about Briggs' cabin, including a sheathed sword under the bed, but most of the ship's papers were missing along with the captain's navigational instruments. Galley equipment was neatly stowed away; there was no food prepared or under preparation, but there were ample provisions in the stores. There were no obvious signs of fire or violence; the evidence indicated an orderly departure from the ship by means of the missing lifeboat.[50]

Deveau returned to report these findings to Morehouse, who decided to bring the derelict into Gibraltar 600 nautical miles (1,100 km) away. Under maritime law, a salvor could expect a substantial share of the combined value of rescued vessel and cargo, the exact award depending on the degree of danger inherent in the salvaging. Morehouse divided Dei Gratia's crew of eight between the two vessels, sending Deveau and two experienced seamen to Mary Celeste while he and four others remained on Dei Gratia. The weather was relatively calm for most of the way to Gibraltar, but each ship was seriously undermanned and progress was slow. Dei Gratia reached Gibraltar on December 12; Mary Celeste had encountered fog and arrived on the following morning. She was immediately impounded by the vice admiralty court to prepare for salvage hearings.[51] Deveau wrote to his wife that the ordeal of bringing the ship in was such that "I can hardly tell what I am made of, but I do not care so long as I got in safe. I shall be well paid for the Mary Celeste."[52]

Gibraltar salvage hearings[edit]

Gibraltar in the 19th century

The salvage court hearings began in Gibraltar on December 17, 1872, under Sir James Cochrane, the chief justice of Gibraltar. The hearing was conducted by Frederick Solly-Flood, Attorney General of Gibraltar who was also Advocate-General and Proctor for the Queen in Her Office of Admiralty. Flood was described by a historian of the Mary Celeste affair as a man "whose arrogance and pomposity were inversely proportional to his IQ",[53] and as "... the sort of man who, once he had made up his mind about something, couldn't be shifted."[54] The testimonies of Deveau and Wright convinced Flood unalterably that a crime had been committed,[55] a belief picked up by the New York Shipping and Commercial List on December 21: "The inference is that there has been foul play somewhere, and that alcohol is at the bottom of it."[56]

On December 23, Flood ordered an examination of Mary Celeste, which was carried out by John Austin, Surveyor of Shipping, with the assistance of a diver, Ricardo Portunato. Austin noted cuts on each side of the bow, caused, he thought, by a sharp instrument, and found possible traces of blood on the captain's sword. His report emphasized that the ship did not appear to have been struck by heavy weather, citing a vial of sewing machine oil found upright in its place.[57] Austin did not acknowledge that the vial might have been replaced since the abandonment, nor did the court raise this point.[26] Portunato's report on the hull concluded that the ship had not been involved in a collision or run aground.[58] A further inspection by a group of Royal Naval captains endorsed Austin's opinion that the cuts on the bow had been caused deliberately. They also discovered stains on one of the ship's rails that might have been blood, together with a deep mark possibly caused by an axe.[59] These findings strengthened Flood's suspicions that human wrongdoing rather than natural disaster lay behind the mystery.[60] On January 22, 1873, he sent the reports to the Board of Trade in London, adding his own conclusion that the crew had got at the alcohol (he ignored its non-potability) and murdered the Briggs family and the ship's officers in a drunken frenzy. They had cut the bows to simulate a collision, then fled in the yawl to suffer an unknown fate.[60] Flood thought that Morehouse and his men were hiding something, specifically that Mary Celeste had been abandoned in a more easterly location, and that the log had been doctored. He could not accept that Mary Celeste could have traveled so far while unmanned.[61][f]

James Winchester arrived in Gibraltar on January 15, to enquire when Mary Celeste might be released to deliver her cargo. Flood demanded a surety of $15,000, money Winchester did not have.[63][64] Winchester became aware that Flood thought Winchester might have deliberately engaged a crew that would kill Briggs and his officers as part of some conspiracy.[65] On January 29, during a series of sharp exchanges with Flood, Winchester testified to Briggs's high character, and insisted that Briggs would not have abandoned the ship except in extremity.[66] Flood's theories of mutiny and murder received significant setbacks when scientific analysis of the stains found on the sword and elsewhere on the ship showed that they were not blood.[67][g] A second blow to Flood followed in a report commissioned by Horatio Sprague, the American consul in Gibraltar, from Captain Shufeldt of the US Navy. In Shufeldt's view the marks on the bow were not man-made, but came from the natural actions of the sea on the ship's timbers.[68]

With nothing concrete to support his suspicions, Flood reluctantly released Mary Celeste from the court's jurisdiction on February 25. Two weeks later, with a locally raised crew headed by Captain George Blatchford from Massachusetts, she left Gibraltar for Genoa.[69] The question of the salvage payment was decided on April 8, when Cochrane announced the award: £1,700, or about one-fifth of the total value of ship and cargo.[69] This was far lower than the general expectation—one authority thought that the award should have been twice or even three times that amount, given the level of hazard in bringing the derelict into port.[70] Cochrane's final words were harshly critical of Morehouse for his decision, earlier in the hearing, to send Dei Gratia under Deveau to deliver her cargo of petroleum—although Morehouse had remained in Gibraltar at the disposal of the court.[71] Cochrane's tone carried an implication of wrongdoing, which, says Hicks, ensured that Morehouse and his crew "...would be under suspicion in the court of public opinion forever."[72]

Proposed solutions[edit]

Foul play[edit]

The evidence in Gibraltar failed to support Flood's theories of murder and conspiracy, yet suspicion lingered of foul play. Flood, and some newspaper reports, briefly suspected insurance fraud on the part of Winchester on the basis that Mary Celeste had been heavily over-insured. Winchester was able to refute these allegations and no inquiry was instituted by the insurance companies that issued the policies.[73] In 1931, an article in the Quarterly Review suggested that Morehouse could have lain in wait for Mary Celeste, then lured Briggs and his crew aboard Dei Gratia and killed them there. Paul Begg argues that this theory ignores the fact that Dei Gratia was the slower ship; she left New York eight days after Mary Celeste and would not have caught Mary Celeste before she reached Gibraltar.[74][75]

Another theory posits that Briggs and Morehouse were partners in a conspiracy to share the salvage proceedings.[76] The unsubstantiated friendship between the two captains has been cited by commentators as making such a plan a plausible explanation.[77] Hicks comments that, "if Morehouse and Briggs had been planning such a scam, they would not have devised such an attention-drawing mystery". He also asks why Briggs left his son Arthur behind if he intended to disappear permanently.[73] Another suggested event was an attack by Riffian pirates who were active off the coast of Morocco in the 1870s. However, Charles Edey Fay observes that pirates would have looted the ship, yet the personal possessions of captain and crew were left undisturbed, some of significant value.[78] In 1925, historian John Gilbert Lockhart surmised that Briggs slaughtered all on board and then killed himself in a fit of a religious mania. Lockhart later spoke to Briggs's descendants, and he apologized and withdrew this theory in a later edition of his book.[75][77]

Lifeboat[edit]

In Cobb's view, the transfer of personnel to the yawl may have been intended as a temporary safety measure. He speculated from Deveau's report on the state of the rigging and ropes that the ship's main halliard may have been used to attach the yawl to the ship, enabling the company to return on board when the danger had passed. However, Mary Celeste would have sailed away empty if the line had parted, leaving the yawl adrift with its occupants.[79] Begg notes how illogical it would be to attach the yawl to a vessel that the crew thought was about to explode or sink.[80] Macdonald Hastings points out that Briggs was an experienced captain and asks whether he would have effected a panicked abandonment. "If the Mary Celeste had blown her timbers, she would still have been a better bet for survival than the ship's boat." If this is what happened, says Hastings, Briggs "behaved like a fool; worse, a frightened one."[81]

Natural phenomena[edit]

A waterspout, photographed off Florida (1969). A waterspout strike has been offered as a possible solution to the Mary Celeste mystery.

Commentators generally agree that some extraordinary and alarming circumstance must have arisen to cause the entire crew to abandon a sound and seaworthy ship with ample provisions.[82][83] Deveau ventured an explanation based on the sounding rod found on deck. He suggested that Briggs abandoned ship after a false sounding, because of a malfunction of the pumps or other mishap, which gave a false impression that the vessel was taking on water rapidly.[84] A severe waterspout strike before the abandonment could explain the amount of water in the ship and the ragged state of her rigging and sails. The low barometric pressure generated by the spout could have driven water from the bilges up into the pumps, leading the crew to assume that the ship had taken on more water than she had and was in danger of sinking.[85]

Other proffered explanations are the possible appearance of a displaced iceberg, the fear of running aground while becalmed, and a sudden seaquake. Hydrographical evidence suggests that an iceberg drifting so far south was improbable, and other ships would have seen it if there were one.[78] Begg gives more consideration to a theory that Mary Celeste began drifting towards the Dollabarat reef off Santa Maria Island when she was becalmed. The theory supposes that Briggs feared that his ship would run aground and launched the yawl in the hope of reaching land. The wind could then have picked up and blown Mary Celeste away from the reef, while the rising seas swamped and sank the yawl. The weakness of this theory is that, if the ship had been becalmed, all sails would have been set to catch any available breeze, yet it was found with many of its sails furled.[29]

An earthquake on the sea bed—a "seaquake"—could have caused sufficient turbulence on the surface to damage parts of Mary Celeste's cargo, thus releasing noxious fumes. Rising fears of an imminent explosion could plausibly have led Briggs to order the ship's abandonment; the displaced hatches suggest that an inspection, or an attempted airing, had taken place.[86] The New York World of January 24, 1886 drew attention to a case where a vessel carrying alcohol had exploded.[87] The same journal's issue of February 9, 1913 cited a seepage of alcohol through a few porous barrels as the source of gases that may have caused or threatened an explosion in Mary Celeste's hold.[88] Briggs's cousin Oliver Cobb was a strong proponent of this theory as providing a sufficiently alarming scenario—rumblings from the hold, the smell of escaping fumes and possibly an explosion—for Briggs to have ordered the evacuation of the ship.[79] In his haste to leave the ship before it exploded, Briggs may have failed to properly secure the yawl to the tow line. A sudden breeze could have blown the ship away from the occupants of the yawl, leaving them to succumb to the elements. The lack of damage from an explosion and the generally sound state of the cargo upon discovery tend to weaken this case.[89][h]

In 2006, an experiment was carried out for Channel Five television by Andrea Sella of University College, London, the results of which helped to revive the "explosion" theory. Sella built a model of the hold, with paper cartons representing the barrels. Using butane gas, he created an explosion that caused a considerable blast and ball of flame—but contrary to expectation, no fire damage within the replica hold. "What we created was a pressure-wave type of explosion. There was a spectacular wave of flame but, behind it, was relatively cool air. No soot was left behind and there was no burning or scorching."[91]

Myths and false histories[edit]

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Fact and fiction became intertwined in the decades that followed. The Los Angeles Times retold the Mary Celeste story in June 1883 with invented detail. "Every sail was set, the tiller was lashed fast, not a rope was out of place. ... The fire was burning in the galley. The dinner was standing untasted and scarcely cold … the log written up to the hour of her discovery."[92] The November 1906 Overland Monthly and Out West Magazine reported that Mary Celeste drifted off the Cape Verde Islands, some 1,400 nautical miles (2,600 km) south of the actual location. Among many inaccuracies, the first mate was "a man named Briggs," and there were live chickens on board.[93]

The most influential retelling, according to many commentators, was a story in the January 1884 issue of the Cornhill Magazine which ensured that the Mary Celeste affair would never be forgotten.[94][95] This was an early work of Arthur Conan Doyle, a 25 year-old ship's surgeon at the time. Conan Doyle's story "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" did not adhere to the facts. He renamed the ship Marie Celeste, the captain's name was J. W. Tibbs, the fatal voyage took place in 1873, and it was from Boston to Lisbon. The vessel carried passengers, among them the titular Jephson.[96] In the story, a fanatic named Septimius Goring with a hatred of the white race has suborned members of the crew to murder Tibbs and take the vessel to the shores of Western Africa. The rest of the ship's company is killed, save for Jephson who is spared because he possesses a magical charm that is venerated by Goring and his accomplices.[i] Conan Doyle had not expected his story to be taken seriously, but Sprague was still serving as the U.S. consul in Gibraltar[j] and was sufficiently intrigued to inquire if any part of the story might be true.[98]

Arthur Conan Doyle, whose 1884 short story did much to disseminate Mary Celeste myths

In 1913, The Strand Magazine provided an alleged survivor's account from one Abel Fosdyk, supposedly Mary Celeste's steward. In this version, the crew had gathered on a temporary swimming platform to watch a swimming contest, when the platform suddenly collapsed. All except Fosdyk were drowned or eaten by sharks. Unlike Conan Doyle's story, the magazine proposed this as a serious solution to the enigma, but it contained many simple mistakes, including "Griggs" for Briggs, "Boyce" for Morehouse, Briggs's daughter as a seven-year-old child rather than a two-year-old, a crew of 13, and an ignorance of nautical language.[94] Many more people were convinced by a plausible literary hoax of the 1920s perpetrated by Irish writer Laurence J. Keating, again presented as a survivor's story of one John Pemberton. This one told a complex tale of murder, madness, and collusion with the Dei Gratia. It included basic errors, such as using Conan Doyle's name ("Marie Celeste") and misnaming key personnel.[99] Nevertheless, the story was so convincingly told that the New York Herald Tribune of July 26, 1926 thought its truth beyond dispute.[100] Hastings describes Keating's hoax as "an impudent trick by a man not without imaginative ability."[101]

In 1924, the Daily Express published a story by Captain R. Lucy, whose alleged informant was Mary Celeste's former bosun,[102] although no such person is recorded in the registered crew list.[103] In this tale, Briggs and his crew are cast in the role of predators; they sight a derelict steamer, which they board and find deserted with £3,500 of gold and silver in its safe. They decide to split the money, abandon Mary Celeste, and seek new lives in Spain, which they reach by using the steamer's lifeboats. Hastings finds it astonishing that such an unlikely story was widely believed for a time; readers, he says, "were fooled by the magic of print."[102]

Chambers's Journal of September 17, 1904 suggests that the entire complement of Mary Celeste was plucked off one by one by a giant octopus or squid.[104] According to the Natural History Museum, giant squid (Architeuthis dux) can reach 15 meters (49 ft) in length[105] and have been known to attack ships.[106] Begg remarks that such a creature could conceivably have picked off a crew member, but it could hardly have taken the yawl and the captain's navigation instruments.[107] Other explanations have suggested paranormal intervention; an undated edition of the British Journal of Astrology describes the Mary Celeste story as "a mystical experience", connecting it "with the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, the lost continent of Atlantis, and the British Israel Movement".[108] The Bermuda Triangle has been invoked, even though Mary Celeste was abandoned in a completely different part of the Atlantic.[109] Similar fantasies have considered theories of abduction by aliens in flying saucers.[108]

Later career and final voyage[edit]

A Brig's Officers Believed to Have Been Murdered at Sea

Mary Celeste left Genoa on June 26, 1873, and arrived in New York on September 19.[110] The Gibraltar hearings, with newspaper stories of bloodshed and murder, had made her an unpopular ship; Hastings records that she "... rotted on wharves where nobody wanted her."[111][k] In February 1874, the consortium sold the ship, at a considerable loss, to a partnership of New York businessmen.[116]

Gonâve Island, in the Gulf of Gonâve, Haiti. The Rochelois Bank is faintly discernible in the southerly channel between the island and the mainland.

Under this new ownership, Mary Celeste sailed mainly in the West Indian and Indian Ocean routes, regularly losing money.[116] Details of her movements occasionally appeared in the shipping news; in February 1879, she was reported at the island of St. Helena,[117] where she had called to seek medical assistance for her captain, Edgar Tuthill, who had fallen ill. Tuthill died on the island, encouraging the idea that the ship was cursed—he was her third captain to die prematurely.[116] In February 1880, the owners sold Mary Celeste to a partnership of Bostonians headed by Wesley Gove. A new captain, Thomas L. Fleming, remained in the post until August 1884, when he was replaced by Gilman C. Parker.[118] During these years, the ship's port of registration changed several times, before reverting to Boston. There are no records of her voyages during this time, although Brian Hicks, in his study of the affair, asserts that Gove tried hard to make a success of her.[119][120]

In November 1884, Parker conspired with a group of Boston shippers, who filled Mary Celeste with a largely worthless cargo, misrepresented on the ship's manifest as valuable goods and insured for US$30,000 ($860,000 today). On December 16, Parker set out for Port-au-Prince, the capital and chief port of Haiti.[121] On January 3, 1885, Mary Celeste approached the port via the channel between Gonâve Island and the mainland, in which lay a large and well-charted coral reef, the Rochelois Bank. Parker deliberately ran the ship on to this reef, ripping out her bottom and wrecking her beyond repair. He and the crew then rowed themselves ashore, where Parker sold the salvageable cargo for $500 to the American consul, and instituted insurance claims for the alleged value.[122][123]

When the consul reported that what he had bought was almost worthless,[124] the ship's insurers began a thorough investigation, which soon revealed the truth of the over-insured cargo. In July 1885, Parker and the shippers were tried in Boston for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Parker was additionally charged with "wilfully cast[ing] away the ship," a crime known as barratry and at the time carrying the death penalty. The conspiracy case was heard first, but on August 15, the jury announced that they could not agree on a verdict. Some jurors were unwilling to risk prejudicing Parker's forthcoming capital trial by finding him guilty on the conspiracy charge. Rather than ordering an expensive retrial, the judge negotiated an arrangement whereby the defendants withdrew their insurance claims and repaid all they had received. The barratry charge against Parker was deferred, and he was allowed to go free. Nevertheless, his professional reputation was ruined, and he died in poverty three months later. One of his co-defendants went mad, and another killed himself. Begg observes that "if the court of man could not punish these men ... the curse that had devilled the ship since her first skipper Robert McLellan had died on her maiden voyage could reach beyond the vessel's watery grave and exact its own terrible retribution."[125]

In August 2001, an expedition headed by the marine archaeologist and author Clive Cussler announced that they had found the remains of a ship embedded in the Rochelois reef. Only a few pieces of timber and some metal artifacts could be salvaged, the remainder of the wreckage being lost within the coral.[126] Initial tests on the wood indicated that it was the type extensively used in New York shipyards at the time of Mary Celeste's 1872 refit, and it seemed the remains of Mary Celeste had been found.[127] However, dendrochronological tests carried out by Scott St George of the Geological Survey of Canada showed that the wood came from trees, most probably from the US state of Georgia, that would still have been growing in 1894, about ten years after Mary Celeste's demise.[128]

Legacy and commemorations[edit]

Mary Celeste was not the first reported case of a ship being found strangely deserted on the high seas. Rupert Gould, a naval officer and investigator of maritime mysteries, lists other such occurrences between 1840 and 1855.[129][l] Whatever the truth of these stories, it is the Mary Celeste that is remembered; the ship's name, or the misspelt Marie Celeste, has become fixed in people's minds as synonymous with inexplicable desertion.[131]

In October 1955, MV Joyita, a 70-ton motor vessel, disappeared in the South Pacific while traveling between Samoa and Tokelau, with 25 people on board.[132] The vessel was found a month later, deserted and drifting north of Vanua Levu, 600 miles (970 km) from its route.[133] None of those aboard were seen again, and a commission of inquiry failed to establish an explanation. David Wright, the affair's principal historian, has described the case as "... a classic marine mystery of Mary Celeste proportions."[134]

There has never been a clear consensus on any one scenario. It is a mystery that has tormented countless people, including the families of the lost sailors and hundreds of others who have tried in vain to solve the riddle. The Ghost Ship may be the best example of the old proverb that the sea never gives up its secrets.

Brian Hicks: Ghost Ship (2004)[135]

The Mary Celeste story inspired two well-received radio plays in the 1930s, by L. Du Garde Peach and Tim Healey respectively,[136][137] and a stage version of Peach's play in 1949.[138] Several novels have been published, generally offering natural rather than fantastic explanations.[m] In 1935, the British film company Hammer Film Productions issued The Mystery of the Mary Celeste[139] (retitled Phantom Ship for American audiences), starring Bela Lugosi as a deranged sailor. It was not a commercial success, although Begg considers it "a period piece well worth watching."[140] A 1938 short film titled The Ship That Died presents dramatizations of a range of theories to explain the abandonment: mutiny, fear of explosion due to alcohol fumes, and the supernatural.[141]

Reference is made to the ship in the second season of the BBC TV science fiction series Doctor Who. In the episode "Flight Through Eternity" (1965) the Doctor's time machine the TARDIS materialises on the Mary Celeste. The pursuing Daleks also materialise, in their own time machine, causing the terrified crew of Mary Celeste to throw themselves into the sea. Both time machines then dematerialise, leaving the ship deserted.[142]

In November 2007, the Smithsonian Channel screened a documentary, The True Story of the Mary Celeste, which investigated many aspects of the case without offering any definite solution. One theory proposed pump congestion and instrument malfunction. The Mary Celeste had been used for transporting coal, which is known for its dust, before it was loaded with industrial alcohol. The pump was found disassembled on deck, so the crew may have been attempting to repair it. The hull was packed full, and the captain would have no way of judging how much water had been taken on while navigating rough seas. The filmmakers postulated that the chronometer was faulty, meaning that Briggs could have ordered abandonment thinking that they were close to Santa Maria when they were 120 miles (190 km) farther west.[143]

At Spencer's Island, Mary Celeste and her lost crew are commemorated by a monument at the site of the brigantine's construction and by a memorial outdoor cinema built in the shape of the vessel's hull.[144] Postage stamps commemorating the incident have been issued by Gibraltar (twice) and by the Maldives (twice, once with the name of the ship misspelt as Marie Celeste).[145]

See also[edit]

- Ghost ship

- List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

1. ^ The historian Charles Edey Fay gives different details of the first voyage. In his account, the trip took Amazon first to the port of Windsor, Nova Scotia, where she was loaded with plaster for transport to New York.[7]

2. ^ The reason for the choice of name is unclear; Begg points out that Maria Celeste was an illegitimate daughter of the astronomer Galileo, and was also the name of a well-known nun, either of whom might have influenced Haines.[17]

3. ^ Julia A. Hallock sank during a storm in the Bay of Biscay on January 8, 1873, while the Mary Celeste mystery was under discussion in Gibraltar. Captain Oliver Briggs went down with the ship, from which there was only one survivor.[26]

4. ^ Lionel and Patricia Fanthorpe report the friendship and the farewell dinner as facts,[42] while other writers are dubious, notably Paul Begg: "One should not doubt the authority of Mrs Morehouse, but in this case it seems almost inconceivable that such a friendship, had it existed, would not have been mentioned during the salvage hearings or have afterwards been independently confirmed by Captain Briggs's family."[43]

5. ^ "Sea time" in the 19th century was 12 hours ahead of land time, thus the new day started at 12 noon in sea time.[44]

6. ^ In disputing Flood's theory, Fay draws attention to the case of the William L. White, which in 1888–89 drifted unmanned for more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km) over a period of 10 months, during which it was observed by 45 other vessels.[62]

7. ^ Although these conclusions were made known to Cochrane and Flood, their publication was withheld for 14 years, enabling stories of likely bloodshed and violence to linger in the public mind.[35]

8. ^ In Genoa, 9 of the 1,701 barrels of alcohol were found empty, through seepage or minor damage. The remainder of the barrels were intact. This was considered an acceptable loss from a cargo of this kind.[90]

9. ^ The full text of Conan Doyle's story is at "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement". The Cornhill Magazine: 1–32. January 1884.

10. ^ Sprague served in Gibraltar from 1848 to 1901; the report of his death in The New York Times of October 19, 1901 described him as the "oldest US consul".[97]

11. ^ Two British newspapers, The Times and The Manchester Guardian, carried reports in February 1873 that mentioned the supposed bloodstains and the appearance of violence.[112][113] The Boston Post of February 24 expressed the view that the crew, "mostly of foreigners," had got at the alcohol and subsequently murdered Briggs, his wife, his child, and the officers, before escaping to the "Western Islands."[114] On March 24 the United States Department of the Treasury wrote in a circular of "grave suspicions" of murder by the crew in a drunken fury.[115]

12. ^ Begg describes Gould as "... an able, intelligent and reliable researcher," but contends that, "It is not always easy to verify such stories ... because the facts and details get changed as the story passes through numerous tellings and retellings."[130]

13. ^ Among recent fact-based novels are: Richard Rees: The Shadow of the Mary Celeste. Published by Robert Hale, London 1995. ISBN 0-709-05745-8.; Brian Freemantle: The Mary Celeste. Published by Severn House Publishers, Sutton, Surrey 1999. ISBN 0-727-85411-9. Valerie Martin: The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. Published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, New York 2014. ISBN 978-0-3855-3350-8.

Mary Celeste

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the actual ship Mary Celeste. For the fictional ship Marie Celeste inspired by and often confused with it, see J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement. For an album named Mary Celeste, see Huron (English band).

Mary Celeste as Amazon in 1861 (cropped).jpg

An 1861 painting of Mary Celeste (named Amazon at the time), by an unknown artist

History

Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgCanada

Name:

Amazon

Port of registry:

Parrsboro, Nova Scotia

Builder:

Joshua Dewis, Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia

Launched:

May 18, 1861

Fate:

Ran aground Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 1867, salvaged and sold to American owners

Flag of the United States (1867–1877).svgUnited States

Name:

- Amazon (1868)

- Mary Celeste (1869–1885)

Port of registry:

Principally New York or Boston

Builder:

Rebuilt 1872, New York (yard not named)

Fate:

Deliberately wrecked off the coast of Haiti, 1885.

General characteristics

Tonnage:

- 198.42 gross tons as built 1861

- 282.28 gross tons after rebuild 1872

Length:

99.3 ft (30.3 m) as built, 103 ft (31 m) after rebuild

Beam:

22.5 ft (6.9 m) as built, 25.7 ft (7.8 m) after rebuild

Depth:

11.7 ft (3.6 m) as built, 16.2 ft (4.9 m) after rebuild

Decks:

1, as built, 2 after rebuild

Sail plan:

Brigantine

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Kaz II

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kaz II, dubbed "the ghost yacht", is a 9.8-metre catamaran[1] which was found drifting 88 nautical miles (163 kilometres) off the north-eastern coast of Australia on 20 April 2007. The fate of its three-man crew remains unknown, and the mysterious circumstances in which they disappeared have been compared to that of the Mary Celeste.[2][3][4][5][6]

Contents

- 1Crew

- 2Disappearance of crew

- 3Forensic examination

- 4Search

- 5Official investigation

- 5.1Hearings

- 5.2Conclusions

- 6Other explanations

- 7See also

- 8References

- 9External links

Crew[edit]

The Kaz II had a three-man crew, all of whom were residents of Perth, Western Australia: Derek Batten (56), Peter Tunstead (69) and James Tunstead (63).[3]

Disappearance of crew[edit]

Kaz II undergoing forensic examination in Townsville

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, Kaz II departed from Airlie Beach on 15 April 2007, and was heading for Townsville, Queensland on the first leg of a journey that was to take it around Northern Australia to Western Australia.[3] The first indication that there was a problem came on 18 April, when a helicopter reported spotting Kaz II adrift in the vicinity of the Great Barrier Reef, and that its crew were potentially in distress.[2][3] On 20 April, maritime authorities caught up with the boat and boarded it. They found the three-man crew missing in circumstances which they described as being "strange".[2][3]

"What they found was a bit strange in that everything was normal; there was just no sign of the crew." – Jon Hall, Queensland's Emergency Management office.[2]

In a statement delivered on the day of the boarding, officials with the Queensland Emergency Management Office revealed that the boat was in serviceable condition and was laid out as if the crew were still on board. Food and flatware were set out on the table, a laptop computer was set up and turned on, and the engine was still running. Officials also confirmed that the boat's emergency systems, including its radio and GPS, were fully functional, and that it still had its full complement of life jackets.[2][3] There was even a small boat still hoisted on the stern of the boat, and the anchor was up.[6] The only signs that were out of the ordinary, other than the disappearance of the crew, was one of the boat's sails had been badly shredded, and that there was no life raft on board (it is unknown whether there ever was one aboard).[2][3]

Forensic examination[edit]

On Friday, 20 April, Kaz II was towed into the Townsville port for forensic examination.[4] On 21 April, Sergeants Bardell and Molloy of the Queensland Police searched the ship for signs of foul play or third-party involvement; no evidence for this was found. They found the cabin to be neat and tidy apart from some magazines, a piece of newspaper, and a wine cask which were lying on the floor. It was later determined that these items ended up on the floor while the ship was being towed to shore. In the sink were a few butter knives and, on a bench in the galley, a plastic sheath of fishing knives was found. They did not appear to have been used recently. Under Batten's bed, in a sealed container, the investigators found a firearm and some ammunition, none of which was apparently missing. In a drawer they found an additional single bullet of the same calibre.[7]

After analyzing data about Kaz II's course from the ship's GPS system, police say that, on the morning of its departure from Airlie Beach, the ship was steered in northeast direction into an area where squalls and rough seas were building. On that same day, late in the afternoon, the GPS data showed it to be adrift.[8] The investigators also recovered a video recording that showed footage taken by the crew during their trip, which revealed some clues as to the men's last day. The last footage, filmed by James Tunstead on 15 April at 10:05 AM, shortly before the men disappeared, showed, among other things:[7]

- Batten was at the helm.

- Peter Tunstead is sitting on the aft stairway of the boat; he is fishing.

- A long white rope can be seen trailing behind the boat.

- The engine is not running.

- Fenders can be seen hanging from safety rails on both sides of the boat.

- The camera is panned 360 degrees and shows islands and surroundings; this helped investigators pinpoint the exact location of the ship.

- The sea is choppy and none of the men are wearing life jackets.

- Tunstead's shirt and glasses are not in the place where they were later found.

Search[edit]

Search and rescue efforts began on Wednesday, 18 April, and Australian search and rescue AusSAR sent a Navy aircraft to search in the vicinity of the vessel in an effort to locate the missing men. At the same time, Bowen Voluntary Marine Rescue launched a coastal and island search. At night, an aircraft with infrared capability was used to search the reefs and cays. The next day, a full scale search-and-rescue effort was launched involving Volunteer Rescue Units from several towns as well as the Townville's coast guard, two rescue helicopters, nine airplanes, and two commercial vessels. Data from Kaz II's GPS system was also retrieved and analyzed in order to help narrow the search area.

Dr. Paul Luckin, a survival-time expert, was consulted. He concluded that it was unlikely that the men were still alive if they were still in the water as they had probably gone overboard three to four days earlier. The teams still had hope that the men could have reached land and continued searching until 4:00 P.M. on 21 April, when the air and sea search for the three crew members was called off.[4][7] Another coastline search was launched on Monday 23 April after some new information had come in but the search proved fruitless and was called off on 25 April.

Official investigation[edit]

On 4 August 2008, an inquest into the men's disappearance began in the Townsville Coroner's Court.[9] The inquest was led by Queensland state coroner Michael Barnes and focused on whether the men were dead, the circumstances surrounding their disappearance, and if the search for the missing men was adequate. In total 27 witnesses were called to testify. Some of them had seen the ship on its fateful voyage and helped authorities to reconstruct the chain of events.[7][10]

Hearings[edit]

In one of the hearings, Jennifer Batten testified that her husband Derek was an experienced and careful yachtsman, had been around boats for 25 years, and that he was acutely aware of the need for safety. He had earned his recreational skipper's ticket and a qualification in marine radio. Every summer they travelled together to Rottnest Island on various motorboats, although Kaz II was their first sailboat. After they bought it, the couple took a six-week sailing course and then sailed Kaz II around the Whitsundays twice. Apart from a minor problem with a propeller, the trips were without problems.[11]

Batten's wife also stated that the original plan was to sail Kaz II to Fremantle as a couple, but that Batten was worried that just two people aboard might not be safe. He decided to take his neighbours, brothers Peter and James Tunstead, with him instead. The trip was planned over several months and discussed daily as they plotted routes with the help of a computer. "They allowed themselves six to eight weeks to get back to Fremantle, but because Des and Peter were retired, it didn't really matter how long they took … They didn't want to sail at night for safety [reasons]", Jennifer Batten said, and they planned to stay reasonably close to the shore.[11] Although Batten was taking medications for high cholesterol, mild diabetes, and had suffered a heart attack at age 50, she believed that he was well enough and fit for the journey.

Also heard was Graeme Douglas, the previous owner of Kaz II, who had sold the boat to Batten. He stated the boat was in good condition when it was sold and that he had met the men on the night before they set sail. He also helped the men plan part of their route and was surprised to see that, according to the police, the men had deviated from their planned route that was programmed in their GPS system.[12]

Gavin Howland, the skipper of a commercial fishing vessel called the Jillian, testified that on 16 April 2007, while fishing on a reef off Bowen, he and his crew saw a white yacht with a torn sail drifting sideways between the reefs through a narrow passage, at up to 3 kn (5.6 km/h), in north-northeastern direction along with the current. He came within 50 metres of the boat but was unable to spot anyone on board. This was two days before the coast guard spotted Kaz II adrift off the coast of Townsville and the day after authorities believe the men went missing. Howland found it odd that a sailboat was in an area noted for its shallow water and rocks. He did not attempt to contact the boat or the authorities. Howland told the inquest that it did not occur to him that the crew of the yacht might be in distress and went on to say: "It did seem a bit strange to me but I just have this rule that no one goes near another vessel".[13][14]

Sergeant Paul Molloy, one of the three forensic police officers who examined Kaz II after she was towed back to shore in April 2007, told the inquest that he did not believe the men had met with foul play. He spent several hours combing the ship for signs of a struggle, but found no evidence that anyone beside the three-man crew of the vessel had been aboard. "We came to the conclusion the boat itself was not a crime scene," he told the inquest. After questions by Peter Tunstead's widow Frances as to why the police did not check for fingerprints, Sgt. Molloy said his years of experience told him it was not necessary. "We were there for a long time; we pulled the boat apart and found nothing untoward... If there was any indication [of foul play] we would have taken every measure we could to examine that boat."[7][13]

Detective Sergeant Graham Patch said that the police found a video recorder inside the boat. On it was footage taken by the three crew members on the morning they went missing. As the video was played in the courtroom, Patch explained that land masses on the video helped officials narrow the search area for the missing crewmen.[7][15]

Conclusions[edit]

State coroner Barnes admits in his official report that he "cannot be so definitive about the circumstances under which the deaths occurred."[7] However, based on the eyewitness accounts, the video found on board, and the state of the yacht in which it was found, the report proposes the following scenario:

"On Sunday, 15 April 2007, at 10:05 A.M., the Kaz II was sailing in the vicinity of George Point. Up to that moment everything was going as planned but, in the following hour, their situation changed dramatically. The men hauled in the white rope that was trailing behind the boat and bundled it up on the foredeck, possibly to dry, next to the locker it was normally kept in. For unknown reasons, James Tunstead then took off his T-shirt and glasses and placed them on the backseat. The report says that since the men's fishing lure was found entangled in the ship's port side rudder, an obvious explanation would be that one of them tried to free the lure and fell overboard while doing so. Standing on the boat's 'sugar scoop' platform (a platform at the back of the ship close to the waterline) while the boat is moving is perilous and falling in the water is easy, but getting back aboard is almost impossible. One of the other men then came to the rescue of his brother, while Batten, still on board, started the motor and realized he had to drop the sails before he could go back for his friends.

As he left the helm to drop the sails, a deviation of the ship's course or wind direction could have easily caused a jibe, swinging the boom across the deck and knocking Batten overboard. This could even have happened before Batten was able to untie and throw out the life ring to his friends. A blue coffee mug found near the life ring may support this. Since the boat was travelling before wind and at a speed of 15 kn (28 km/h), it would be out of reach of the men within seconds. The report states: "From that point, the end would have been swift. None of them were good swimmers, the seas were choppy; the men would have quickly become exhausted and sunk beneath the waves."[7]

The report rules out foul play and staged disappearance.

Other explanations[edit]

Interior of the Kaz II showing laundry hung up to dry

Several alternative explanations have been put forward for the crew's disappearance.

According to authorities in Townsville, the weather had been windy and the sea had been rough between the time that Kaz II departed and was found drifting.[2] This led authorities to speculate that the crew may have experienced some form of sudden difficulty during rough weather and gone overboard. However, one issue with this theory is that contents of the cabin, including a table, did not seem to have been disrupted in any way.[2][4] Relatives of the missing men say that the boat's condition make this unlikely and point to discrepancies such as the fact that the men's fishing lines and laundry were set out, and that their life jackets were still stowed, which indicated that they were not experiencing rough weather at the time of their disappearance.[16]

Also noted was the fact that Kaz II was found with its fenders out, leading to speculation that the boat may have docked with another as-yet-unknown vessel to which the crew might have willingly, or unwillingly, transferred.[16]

"The fenders were out on their yacht, and the only reason you ever put them out is when another boat comes aside or if you come to rest against a wharf." – Hope Himing, niece of boat owner Derek Batten.

In answer to speculation, Townsville police stated that small craft commonly leave their fenders out at all times, making it impossible to draw any definitive conclusions about this feature.[4][16]

Batten was said to have bought Kaz II a year before and sailed it a couple of times since then. The Tunsteads were not nautical novices either, since they sailed together from the time they were 18 years old, and even worked in the radio rooms of the Volunteer Sea Rescue.[6] The last known contact of the family members with any of the crew was made one-and-a-half hours after it left port, when one crew member was contacted by his wife.[7]

Volunteer radio operator Ivan Ormes recorded that Kaz II radioed in at 6:45 P.M. on 15 April, the evening of their departure, giving its position as George Point. This is the last known contact with Kaz II. Ms. Grey says that it should have taken them only 21

/

2 hours to go to George Point and that it is unclear what took them so long to arrive there. One explanation is that they were just fishing the whole day. But another explanation is that they had problems with their GPS, since they already tried to set off on 14 April, but were forced to return because of the non-functional GPS. That incident was because of a user error and it was easily fixed, so Kaz II set off early the next day.[6]

Other hypotheses include that the boat became stuck on a sandbar near George Point, where the boat's last radio message was made. When the men jumped overboard to push it free, a gust of wind blew and the boat drifted away, leaving them stranded. This would explain why towels were left out on the deck.[6] Another hypothesis is that one crew member may have been washed over by a freak wave and that the others were lost trying to rescue him.[17]

See also[edit]

- List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

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List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other lists of disappeared persons, see Lists of people who disappeared.

Throughout history, people have mysteriously disappeared at sea, many while on voyages or traveling via aircraft. The following is a list of known individuals who have mysteriously vanished in open waters, and whose whereabouts remain unknown. In most ocean deaths, bodies are never recovered, but this fact alone does not make their disappearance mysterious. For example, the RMS Titanic was not a mysterious disappearance.

Contents

- 13th century–1969

- 1970–present

- People who disappeared mysteriously at sea solved cases

- 13th century–1969

- 1970–2009

- 2010–present

- See also

- References

- External links

13th century–1969[edit]

Date

Person(s)

Age

Missing from

Circumstances

1291

Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi

Unknown

Atlantic Ocean

The Genoese sailor and explorer brothers were lost while attempting the first oceanic journey from Europe to Asia. Their two galleys sailed out of the Mediterranean Sea and into the Atlantic Ocean, but were not heard from again.

[1]

14th-century

Abu Bakr II

unknown

Atlantic Ocean

The supposed ninth mansa of the Mali Empire who vanished during an expedition to discover the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. While numerous theories exist about his and his crew's fate, including that he had reached the New World, nothing has been confirmed with certainty.

[2]

1346

Jaume Ferrer

unknown

Atlantic Ocean

Majorcan sailor who sailed down the west coast of Africa in search of the "River of Gold". The results of his quest, including his fate, are unknown.

[3]

1499

John Cabot

49

Northwest Passage

Cabot, an Italian explorer, disappeared along with his five ships during an expedition to find a western route from Europe to Asia.

[4]

1501

Gaspar Corte-Real

51

Northwest Passage

Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real disappeared on an expedition to discover the Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia. Two of his ships returned to Lisbon, but the third, with Gaspar on board, was lost and never heard from again.

[5]

1502

Miguel Corte-Real

54

Northwest Passage

Corte-Real, a Portuguese explorer, disappeared while searching for his brother Gaspar. Like his brother, he took three ships and, just like his brother, the ship with Miguel on board was lost and never heard from again.

[6]

1526

Francisco de Hoces

Unknown

Pacific Ocean

De Hoces was the commander of the San Lesmes which was one of the seven ships of the Loaísa expedition under García Jofre de Loaísa. It has been speculated that the San Lesmes, last seen in the Pacific Ocean in late May, may have reached Easter Island, the Polynesian archipelagos or even New Zealand.

[7]

1579

Ikegusuku Antō

Unknown

East China Sea

A bureaucrat of Ryukyu Kingdom, Ikegusuku Antō was sent as an envoy to China, but his ship was caught in a storm and disappeared in the sea in 1579 and was never seen again.

[8]

1611

Henry Hudson and companions

45–46

Northwest Passage

Hudson went on multiple expeditions of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States, searching for the Northwest Passage. In 1611, after wintering on the shore of James Bay, Hudson wanted to press on to the west, but most of his crew mutinied. The mutineers cast Hudson, his teenage son, and seven others adrift; the Hudsons and their companions were never seen again.

[9]

1638

Urasoe Chōri

Unknown

Satsuma Domain

A member of Sanshikan, Urasoe Chōri went on a boat trip to Satsuma, but his ship was caught in a storm and disappeared in the sea. He is believed to have drowned.

[10]

1671

Roche Braziliano

40–41

Location unknown

A Dutch pirate born in the town of Groningen, Roche Braziliano. whose career lasted from 1654 until 1671, disappeared during that year, and was never seen again.

[11]

1686

Michel de Grammont

41

Near St. Augustine, Florida, U.S.

French privateer renowned for attacking Spanish flagships from 1670 to 1686, who, together with his entire crew, was killed in a storm while on a rescue mission to save fellow buccaneer Nicolas Brigaut.

[12]

1750/60

The Sea Bird and its crew

unknown

Rhode Island

The Sea Bird, which also went by other names, was a merchant brig that, after a Honduras voyage and then grounding in Rhode Island at Easton's Beach in either 1750 or 1760, had lost its longboat. No people were found living on it; all that was found was a cat and a dog. The crew who was aboard was never seen again. The ship itself later disappeared as well and was not seen again neither.

[13][14][15]

1769/70

Henry Vansittart

37

Indian Ocean

Vansittart, MP and director of the East India Company, Luke Scrafton and Francis Forde formed a delegation to investigate corruption and reform the British government in India and were last seen embarking at Cape Town en route to India on 27 December 1769. Their ship disappeared with all hands, apparently in a storm, the captain having decided to sail the Mozambique Channel despite adverse weather.

[16]

Luke Scrafton

unknown

Francis Forde

51

1780

William Palfrey

39

Atlantic Ocean

William Palfrey was an American Patriot born in 1741. He went missing after getting lost at sea in December 1780 following a business trip to France.

.[17]

1788

Jean-François de Galaup and his expedition

46–47 (Galaup)

Botany Bay, Australia

The French expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, Comte de Lapérouse disappeared after their last stop at Botany Bay (now Sydney), after meeting ships of Britain's First Fleet bringing convicts to establish the new settlement that became Australia. The wrecks of the expedition's two ships, the Boussole and Astrolabe), were subsequently discovered at Vanikoro, an island in the Santa Cruz group (part of the Solomon Islands) where the survivors may have set up camp.

[18][19]

5 February 1803

George Bass

32

Port Jackson, Australia

The British explorer of Australia set sail from Sydney for South America and was never heard from again.

[20]

2–3 January 1813

Theodosia Burr Alston and companions

29

Coast of South Carolina, U.S.

The daughter of U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr, and sometimes called the most educated American woman of her day, sailed from Georgetown, South Carolina, aboard the Patriot, which was never seen again.

[21]

28 January 1821

Obed Hendricks

Unknown

Pacific Ocean

Sailors on the whaler Essex, which sank in the Pacific on 20 November 1820 after being struck by a sperm whale. Their whaleboat was separated on the open sea from their fellow crewmen on 28 January 1821; it was never seen again. Years later, a boat with three skeletons inside was discovered washed up on Ducie Island, but the skeletons were not identified as being theirs.

[22][23]

William Bond

Unknown

Joseph West

Unknown

1831

Carlo Giuseppe Bertero

42

South Pacific Ocean

Italian naturalist and botanist known for documenting the flora and fauna in the West Indies and South America. He was presumably lost after he shipwrecked while on a voyage from Tahiti to Chile.

[24]

1845

Franklin's lost expedition

59 (Franklin)

Victoria Strait

The expedition led by Sir John Franklin, with 129 seamen, made last contact with a whaling ship before entering Victoria Strait in search of the Northwest Passage. The remains of some individuals, written messages and the wrecks of the ships HMS Erebus (in 2014) and HMS Terror (in 2016) were later discovered. However, the majority of the crew, including Franklin himself, were never found with the crew having probably died from a combination of lead poisoning, starvation, and exposure.

[25]

1840

The crew of the Rosalie

Various

Atlantic Ocean

The Rosalie, a large French vessel, was found abandoned with sails set and cargo intact. Its crew had vanished.

[26]

1849

The crew of the Hermania

Various

Atlantic Ocean

A fishing vessel off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England found the Dutch schooner Hermania drifting. She had been dismasted, evidently by a gale. The fishermen went on board and found that the schooner's lifeboat was still in its chocks. The property of the crew seemed to be intact, but everyone aboard the vessel had vanished.

[27]

7 October, 1849

Francisque Arban

34

Mediterranean Sea

Arban was a French ballonist renowned as the first person to cross the Alps in a balloon. On 7 October, 1849, he took on a flight from Barcelona but was blown over to the Mediterranean Sea, where he disappeared and is thought to have died.

[28]

4 December 1872

Captain Benjamin Briggs and crew

37

Atlantic Ocean near Azores

Briggs, his wife Sarah, their daughter Sophia, and all seven crew members were missing when the Mary Celeste was found adrift in choppy seas some 400 miles (640 km) east of the Azores. Their unexplained disappearances are at the core of "one of the most durable mysteries in nautical history".

[29]

Sarah Elizabeth Briggs

31

Sophia Matilda Briggs

2

1880

Lamont Young

28–29

Bermagui, Australia

Young, a government geologist inspecting new gold fields on behalf of the New South Wales Mines Department, together with his assistant Max Schneider, boat owner Thomas Towers and two other men disappeared after leaving Bermagui, New South Wales, Australia in a small boat. The nearby location where the abandoned wreck of their boat was discovered was subsequently named Mystery Bay.

[30][31]

29 August 1884

Resolven

Various

Labrador, Canada

The merchant ship Resolven was found abandoned off the coast of Labrador on 29 August. A lifeboat was missing and it was assumed that all 11 on board had evacuated in the face of nearby icebergs, but neither they nor the lifeboat were ever found.

[32]

14 November 1909

Joshua Slocum

65

Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, U.S.

Slocum, a Canadian-American sailor and first man to sail single-handedly around the world (1895–1898), disappeared after setting sail from Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard alone, bound for South America, aboard the same 36 ft 9 in (11.20 m) sloop Spray he had used for his circumnavigation.

[33]

5 June 1911

Édouard Bague

32

Mediterranean Sea

Former lieutenant in the Algerian tirailleurs and aviator who disappeared after he attempted to cross the Mediterranean Sea without a compass. Despite several expeditions to locate the plane or Bague's remains, nothing has been seen of him since.

[34]

1912

Alexander Kuchin

24

Kara Sea

Russian oceanographer and Arctic explorer Kuchin disappeared in 1912 and was never heard from again.

[35]

18 April 1912

Damer Leslie Allen

34

Irish Sea

Irish-born British aviator. Dissapeared in April 1912 while attempting to fly solo from Holyhead, Wales, to Ireland in a Blériot monoplane.

[36]

23 May 1914

Gustav Hamel

24–25

English Channel

Hamel, a British aviation pioneer who was most prominent for developing and promoting flying in Hendon Aerodrome, disappeared over the English Channel while flying a new plane. In July, a fishing vessel saw a body floating in the ocean, which, although they didn't retrieve it, believed to be Hamel's.

[37]

18/19 August 1914

Albert Johan Petersson

44

Bergen

Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist Albert Petersson disappeared in 1914 in Odda, Norway.

[38]

c. November 1918

Arthur Cravan

33

Salina Cruz, Mexico

Writer, poet, artist and boxer Arthur Cravan was last seen in Salina Cruz, Mexico in 1918.

[39]

26 October 1919

Marie Empress

35

Atlantic Ocean

Empress, a British silent film actress, was last seen in Stateroom 480 on the SS Orduña the night before its arrival in New York City.

[40]

31 January 1921

Carroll A. Deering

Various

Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, U.S.

The captain and ten crewmen of the schooner Carroll A. Deering were missing when the schooner was found run aground off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, on 31 January 1921. A mutiny was suspected, but the reason for their disappearance has never been established.

[41]

26 November 1921

Charles Whittlesey

37

Atlantic Ocean

The American soldier and Medal of Honor recipient who led the "Lost Battalion" in World War I was last seen on the evening of 26 November 1921 on a passenger ship bound from New York City to Havana. It is presumed he committed suicide by jumping overboard.

[42]

15 November 1924

Artur de Sacadura Cabral

43

English Channel

Portuguese aviation pioneer, Artur de Sacadura Cabral, disappeared flying over the English Channel on 24 November and is believed to have died, since parts of the plane were found, although he was not.

[43]

c. 8 May 1927

Charles Nungesser

31

Atlantic Ocean

Nungesser and Coli disappeared at sea while attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York. Their plane was last sighted near Ireland, and hasn't been seen since.

[44]

François Coli

45

18 August 1927

William Portwood Erwin

28

Pacific Ocean

Lt. Erwin was an American flying ace active during World War I, credited with eight aerial victories. He vanished while participating in the Dole Air Race spanning between Oakland, California and Hawaii, and is believed to drowned in the ocean.

[45]

31 August 1927

Leslie Hamilton

unknown

Atlantic Ocean

Hamilton, a British flying ace credited with six aerial victories, disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean while attempting the first non-stop east-west flight across the Atlantic Ocean. His plane and passengers, Minchin and Princess Anne, were last seen flying over the Atlantic by an oil tanker, and then promptly vanished.

[46]

Frederick F. Minchin

37

6 September 1927

Lloyd W. Bertaud

31

Atlantic Ocean

Bertaud, an American aviator, disappeared aboard the Old Glory together with pilot James DeWitt Hill and passenger Phillip Payne. One of the plane's wings was later found off the coast of Cape Race, but no sign of the crew was found.

[47]

23 December 1927

Oskar Omdal

31

Atlantic Ocean

Omdal was a Norwegian pilot serving in the Royal Norwegian Navy. In December 1927, together with Frances Wilson Grayson, Brice Goldsborough and Frank Koehler, took off from Curtiss Field in order to set the record for the first woman to cross the Atlantic, but the plane disappeared at sea. No trace of either the plane or the crew has been found since.

[48]

10 January 1928

John Moncrieff

34

Tasman Sea

The pair of New Zealanders were the first to attempt the Trans-Tasman flight from New Zealand to nearby Australia. After their departure from Sydney, neither the pilots or the aircraft were ever seen again.

[49]

George Hood

37

13 March 1928

Walter G. R. Hinchliffe

34

Atlantic Ocean

Hinchliffe, a decorated flying ace, and Mackay, an actress and aviation pioneer, attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a bid for Mackay to become the first woman to have succeeded in the Transatlantic flight. The plane was last seen near the west of Cork, Ireland, but nothing of it has been seen since.

[50]

Elsie Mackay

35

18 June 1928

Roald Amundsen

55

Barents Sea

Amundsen disappeared with Guilbaud and four other crew members on 18 June 1928 while flying on a rescue mission in the Arctic, over the Barents Sea. The search for Amundsen and his team was called off in September 1928 by the Norwegian Government. No bodies were ever found.

[51]

René Guilbaud

37

3 December 1934

Charles Ulm

36

Atlantic Ocean

Ulm was an Australian aviator who, together with Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, was the founder of the Australian National Airways. In December 1934, he, his copilot and his navigator disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean during a test flight from Oakland, California to Hawaii.

[52]

8 November 1935

Charles Kingsford Smith

38

Andaman Sea

Australian pioneer aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge disappeared during an overnight flight from Allahabad, India, to Singapore while attempting to break the England–Australia speed record. Eighteen months later, Burmese fishermen found an undercarriage leg and wheel (with its tire still inflated) on the shoreline of Aye Island in the Andaman Sea, 3 km (2 mi) off the southeast coastline of Burma, which Lockheed confirmed to be from their Lockheed Altair, the Lady Southern Cross. Botanists who examined the weeds clinging to it estimated that the aircraft itself lies not far from the island at a depth of approximately 15 fathoms (90 ft; 27 m). A filmmaker claimed to have located Lady Southern Cross on the seabed in February 2009.

[53][54]

Tommy Pethybridge

Unknown

October 1936

Brian Abbot, and Leslie Hay-Simpson

24–25 and unknown

Sydney

Brian Abbot was the stage name of Australian actor "George Rikard Bell", who along with his sidekick and fellow actor Leslie Hay-Simpson mysteriously disappeared while at sea in Sydney in October 1936; they were never seen again despite a week long search having taken place to find them. A significant number of boats have disappeared around the same area where Abbot and Hay-Simpson disappeared. A boat with five men from Sydney also mysteriously vanished a few weeks after the disappearance of Abbot and Leslie Hay-Simpson and was also never seen again neither.

[55][56][57]

2 July 1937

Amelia Earhart

39

Pacific Ocean near Howland Island

American aviator Amelia Earhart was the first woman to try a circumnavigational flight of the globe. During the attempt, she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, disappeared over the central Pacific in the vicinity of Howland Island on 2 July 1937.

[58]

Fred Noonan

44

13 August 1937

Sigizmund Levanevsky

35

Arctic Ocean

Levanevsky, a Soviet aviator, with his crew of five and their Bolkhovitinov DB-A aircraft disappeared in the vicinity of the North Pole on the Arctic Ocean. They had reported a loss of power from one of their four Mikulin AM-34 engines while attempting to prove a transpolar route between Asia and North America commercially viable.

[59]

10 January 1938

Jimmy Hampson

31

Fleetwood, England

James Hampson was an English professional footballer who spent eleven seasons at Blackpool. He went missing after a fishing trip near the Fleetwood coast went horribly wrong.

.[60]

25 March 1938

Ettore Majorana

32

Tyrrhenian Sea

An Italian physicist, Majorana disappeared in unknown circumstances during a boat trip from Palermo to Naples on 25 March 1938. There is some evidence that he was alive in South America in 1959 and that his disappearance was voluntary.

[61]

20 March 1939

William Snodgrass

68–69

Cook Strait

Snodgrass, a New Zealand politician, disappeared from the interisland ferry Arahura while travelling overnight from Wellington to Nelson on 20 March 1939.

[62]

24 March 1939

Richard Halliburton

39

Pacific Ocean

Halliburton vanished while attempting to sail the Sea Dragon, a Chinese junk, across the Pacific Ocean, accompanied by photojournalist Paul Mooney. In 1945, wreckage identified as a rudder, and believed to belong to the Sea Dragon, washed ashore in San Diego.

.[63]

Paul Mooney

34

3 September 1940

Elroy Guckert

40

Location unknown

An American football and basketball coach who is said to have died in 1940 when he disappeared from a ship but his body was never recovered and he was never seen, so his fate remains unknown.

[64]

5 January 1941

Amy Johnson

37

Thames Estuary, England

An English pioneer pilot who was the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia, Johnson is believed to have crashed into the sea after being blown off course due to bad weather.

[65]

30 May 1942

Boris Safonov

26

Barents Sea

Boris Safonov was a Soviet Naval Aviation fighter ace who had received the 'Hero of the Soviet Union' title twice. He crashed into the Barents Sea in 1942.

.[66]

16 August 1942

Lt. Ernest Cody

27

San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.

U.S. Navy blimp L-8 drifted inland from its route doing antisubmarine patrol off the coast of California near San Francisco several hours after its crew, Lt. Ernest Cody and Ens. Charles Adams, radioed in that they were going to take a closer look at an oil slick. When the ship eventually crashed in Daly City, neither man was aboard. A massive search failed to find any trace of them; they were both declared dead a year later.

[67]

Ens. Charles Adams

38

26 July 1944

USS Robalo crewmen

Various

South China Sea

Although the U.S. Navy claimed the submarine USS Robalo was lost with all hands after failing to report while on a July 1944 patrol in the Philippines, Lt. Cmdr. Manning Kimmel (31) and three other crewmen are known to have survived. A note recovered by an Army prisoner of war claimed the four had been arrested as spies after reaching Palawan Island following the Robalo's 26 July collision with a Japanese mine just offshore. Another witness account says they were massacred following an air raid later that year but Japanese records do not indicate they were being held at the camp in question at that time. It is believed that they were killed in captivity but officially their fate is still unknown.

[68]

26 July 1944

Leon Vance

27

Atlantic Ocean

Vance was a decorated veteran of World War II, serving in the United States Army Air Forces. He, and all aboard a C-54 Skymaster, disappeared while travelling across the Atlantic Ocean from England to the United States. This aircraft is believed to have crashed somewhere between Iceland and Newfoundland

[69]

31 July 1944

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

44

Mediterranean Sea

French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who disappeared over the Mediterranean on a reconnaissance mission during July 1944, is believed to have died at that time. In August, an unidentifiable body, wearing a French uniform, was found in the sea near Carqueiranne and was buried there. In 2000, the wreckage of the aircraft flown by Saint-Exupéry was found on the seabed near Marseille.

[70]

22 November 1944

Johan Pitka

72

Baltic Sea

Estonian navy commander and prominent fighter in the Estonian War of Independence. In 1944, he returned to his country from his exhile in Finland to fight against the Soviet occupying forces, but is thought to have been killed in action.

[71]

15 December 1944

Glenn Miller

40

English Channel

An American big band leader and recording artist, Miller disappeared on the night of 15 December 1944 in a US Army UC-64 Norseman aircraft that vanished over the English Channel while en route from UK to Paris, France. Miller was on the flight to make arrangements for his band to entertain Allied servicemen.

[72][73]

30 January 1948

Sir Arthur Coningham

53

Bermuda Triangle

A retired RAF Air Marshal, Sir Arthur Coningham disappeared when an Avro Tudor IV G-AHNP Star Tiger went missing over the western Atlantic.[74] He was one of 25 passengers, together with six crewmen, who were lost when the flight from Santa Maria Airport in the Azores failed to reach its destination of Kindley Field, Bermuda. Star Tiger's sister aircraft G-AGRE Star Ariel also disappeared over the western Atlantic, with the loss of all seven crewmen and 13 passengers, while flying from Bermuda to Kingston Airport, Jamaica, the following year.

[75][76]

8 June, 1952

David Atcherley

48

Mediterranean Sea

A decorated Royal Air Force officer, Atcherly was lost at sea while on a 40-minute flight from Egypt to Nicosia, Cyprus. Despite extensive searches from British, Israeli, Turkish and American aircraft, neither he or his plane have ever been located.

[77]

7 February 1953

Holchu's 5 crew members

Various

Indian Ocean

The Holchu, a small cargo ship, was sighted adrift in the Indian Ocean on 7 February 1953, around 200 miles (320 km) south of the Nicobar Islands, by HMT Empire Windrush. She was later boarded by the crew of a British cargo ship, alerted by Windrush's radio warning. They found no trace of the crew and the Holchu was towed to Colombo. Holchu was carrying a cargo of rice and was in good condition, aside from a broken mast. Adequate supplies of food, water and fuel were found, and a meal had been prepared in the ship's galley. The fate of the Holchu's crew remains unknown.

[78]

10 November 1955

Joyita

Various

South Pacific Ocean

On 10 November, the 69-foot (21 m) merchant vessel Joyita was found abandoned, partially submerged and listing heavily to port, north of the Pacific island of Vanua Levu, part of Fiji. No sign of the 25 passengers and crew who had been aboard when it was last seen on its departure from Apia, Samoa five weeks earlier. An extensive investigation has failed to find any trace of the passengers or crew.

[79]

10 March 1956

Robert H. Hodgin

31

Mediterranean Sea

Three United States Air Force airmen, commander Captain Robert H. Hodgin, observer Captain Gordon M. Insley and pilot 2nd Lt. Ronald L. Kurtz disappeared when their B-47 failed to make contact with an aerial refueling tanker at 14,000 ft over the Mediterranean Sea. While the unarmed aircraft was transporting two different capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases, a nuclear detonation was not possible.

[80][81]

Gordon M. Insley

32

Ronald L. Kurtz

22

29 April 1956

Lionel "Buster" Crabb

46

Portsmouth Harbour

Crabb, a retired British Royal Navy frogman, disappeared during an MI6 mission to spy on the Soviet Sverdlov class cruiser Ordzhonikidze. The coroner concluded that a body (missing its head and hands) in a frogman suit found floating in Chichester Harbour the following year was Crabb's but a positive identification was never made nor cause of death determined.

[82]

28 October 1959

Camilo Cienfuegos

27

Straits of Florida

A Cuban revolutionary and friend of Fidel Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos disappeared when his Cessna 310 went missing over the ocean during a night flight from Camagüey to Havana.

[83]

9 September 1961

David Kenyon Webster

39

Pacific Ocean near Santa Monica, California, U.S.

Webster was a journalist for the Los Angeles Daily News, The Saturday Evening Post and a World War II veteran with "Easy" Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (the subject of the book and miniseries Band of Brothers). He went out on a boat near the coast of Santa Monica and disappeared while shark fishing; he is presumed to have drowned.

[84]

16 June 1962

Private Colin Luke

21

Gibraltar/Straits of Gibraltar

A soldier in the 1st Battalion, Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry Regiment, went missing while attempting to swim alone around the Rock of Gibraltar from Little Bay to Eastern Beach. His clothes were found in Little Bay by Police Constable Conroy. Private Gordon Ashworth was the last person to see Colin Luke at Europa Point Barracks before he disappeared.

[85]

11 October 1964

Holly Roth

48

Atlantic Ocean

Roth, an American crime novelist, disappeared on 11 October 1964 while sailing on a ketch with her husband 20 miles north of Safi, Morocco. They departed Gibraltar for the Canary Islands on 8 October 1964. Her husband reported her missing about 4 AM while she was on watch, and reported a collision with another vessel. Her body was never recovered.

[86][87]

17 January 1967

Audrey Bruce Currier

33

Coast of San Juan, Puerto Rico

American heiress Audrey Bruce Currier and her husband Stephen Currier, wealthy philanthropists described as one of the richest young couples in the world, vanished at sea sometime after 7:30 pm on the evening of 17 January 1967, on a routine 76 miles (122 km) charter flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. Their plane, a Piper Apache piloted by John D. Watson (52) of Airplane Charters Inc., was last heard from when the pilot radioed at 7:30 pm for permission to overfly the US Naval base at Isla Culebra, which was denied. The plane was never seen or heard from again. Because the pilot had failed to file a flight plan, the search for the plane did not commence until 5 am, 9 hours after it failed to arrive in St. Thomas. Despite an extensive air-sea search by the US Coast Guard, no trace of the plane or its passengers was ever found. Audrey Currier was a granddaughter of the financier Andrew Mellon and the daughter of senior US diplomat David K. E. Bruce, while her husband Stephen was the son of socialite Mary Warburg. The Curriers had for the past ten years provided millions of dollars in financial support to the civil rights movement in the US through the Taconic Foundation and an umbrella group they founded, the Council for United Civil Rights Leadership.

[88][89]

Stephen Currier

36

17 December 1967

Harold Holt

59

Cheviot Beach, Australia

Holt, the Prime Minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in heavy surf at a beach notorious for strong and dangerous rip currents. Despite one of the largest search-and-rescue operations ever mounted in Australia, his body was never found.

[90][91]

10 July 1969

Donald Crowhurst

36

Atlantic Ocean

Crowhurst was a competitor in the Sunday Times Golden Globe single-handed nonstop around the world yacht race. An inexperienced yachtsman, Crowhurst fabricated his progress in the race through fake log entries, the last of which being dated 1 July 1969. His boat was found abandoned on 10 July 1969.

[92]

1970–present[edit]

Date

Person(s)

Age

Missing from

Circumstances

21 February 1974

Thomas Leigh Gatch, Jr.

48 (95 as of 2021)

Atlantic Ocean, near the Canary Islands

American balloonist Thomas Gatch disappeared while attempting to become the first human to cross the Atlantic by balloon. A day after lifting off from Harrisburg Airport on 18 February, his balloon named Light Heart lost radio contact. On 21 February, it was sighted by a ship about 1600 km west of the Canary Islands but it has not been seen since.

[93]

9 July 1975

Bas Jan Ader

33 (79 as of 2021)

Atlantic Ocean

Ader, a Dutch conceptual artist, performance artist, photographer and filmmaker, was lost at sea sometime after 9 July 1975 while attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the US to England in the smallest boat ever. His deserted vessel was found off the coast of Ireland on 18 April 1976 but offered few clues as to his fate.

[94]

October 1977

Slim Wintermute

60 (104 as of 2021)

Portage Bay, Washington, U.S.

Wintermute, an American collegiate and professional basketball player, disappeared in October 1977, after setting out in his yacht from Portage Bay. His boat was found a few days later with one of his friends asleep on board; foul play was not suspected.

[95]

17 March 1978

Eddie Aikau

31 (74 as of 2021)

Hawaii, U.S.

Aikau, a Hawaiian lifeguard and surfer, disappeared on 17 March 1978 when he got lost at sea on a boat called the Hōkūleʻa and was separated from the boat. He was last seen paddling toward his surfboard and is believed to have drowned.

[96][97]

7 July 1979

Ian Mackintosh

40 (82 as of 2021)

Gulf of Alaska, U.S.

Ian Mackintosh, the creator and writer of The Sandbaggers, a British television series, was flying with two others over the Gulf of Alaska in a light aircraft on 7 July 1979. The plane sent out a distress signal which was picked up by the United States Coast Guard. The plane's last known position was searched, but no wreckage of it was ever found, and its passengers have not been heard from since.

[98]

23 December 1979

Jon Mathews

47

Indian Ocean

American adventurer and yachtsman whom, together with his wife Jean, attempted to circumnavigate around the world on their vessel, the Drambuie II. While heading towards Durban, South Africa, they sailed into the path of Cyclone Claudette and were presumably killed in the process.

[99]

5 August 1980

Alan Addis

19 (60 as of 2021)

East Falkland, Falkland Islands

The Royal Marine Alan Addis went missing on 5 August 1980. His small unit was on a patrol to North Arm in Lafonia on East Falkland. Addis was last seen at 1:30 am after the marines had attended a local function in the social hall of the remote and small community. He was not missed until the other members of his team had set sail on a steamer to take them back to their base at Port Stanley. The official report assumes he drowned, but investigations and rumours have led to a belief that he was murdered. No body or trace has been found.

[100]

October 1980

Angus Primrose

53 (94 as of 2021)

South Carolina, U.S.

The designer and naval architect Primrose went missing at sea during October 1980 and is presumed to have drowned.

[101]

September 1985

Art Scholl

53

California

Scholl was an American aerobatic pilot, aerial cameraman, flight instructor and educator based in Riverside, Southern California. He died during the filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. Scholl had entered the spin intentionally in order to capture it on film using on-board cameras. Observers watched the plane continue to spin as it descended past the planned recovery altitude. The plane impacted the ocean about five miles off the coast, near Carlsbad, California. The exact cause of the crash was never determined. Neither the aircraft nor Scholl's body were ever recovered.

[102]

21 May 1995

Larry Hillblom

52 (78 as of 2021)

Mariana Islands

Hillblom, a co-founder of the DHL Worldwide shipping company, was on board a plane that went down in the Northern Mariana Islands on 21 May 1995. The bodies of the pilot and other passengers were found but no trace of Hillblom has ever been found. His house in Saipan was found to have had areas where DNA might be found washed down with acid and artifacts with DNA traces buried in the backyard in an apparent effort to prevent any possible claimants to his estate from proving Hillblom had been their father.

[103]

12 November 1995

Bruno Bréguet

45 (71 as of 2021)

Ionian Sea

Bréguet, a Swiss-born associate of terrorist Carlos the Jackal, was last seen on a ferry from Italy to Greece 12 November 1995. His family suspected he had been murdered and a body found in Greece might have been his, but authorities remain uncertain.

[104]

14 February 1997

Grant Hadwin

47 (71 as of 2021)

Hecate Strait, British Columbia

Hadwin, an anti-logging activist, went missing 14 February 1997 while traveling by kayak across the Hecate Strait to Graham Island near British Columbia to face criminal charges for cutting down Kiidk'yaas, a rare golden spruce tree revered by the Haida people. The wreckage of his kayak was discovered in June but no trace of Hadwin himself has been found.

[105]

25 January 1998

Tom Lonergan

34 (57 as of 2021)

Coral Sea, Australia

Tom and Eileen Lonergan, a married couple from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, disappeared when they were mistakenly stranded in the Coral Sea after a scuba dive on 25 January 1998. Eileen's father, John Hains, later said that he suspects the couple ultimately became dehydrated and disoriented and in the end succumbed to drowning or sharks.

[106][107]

Eileen Lonergan

29 (52 as of 2021)

24 March 1998

Amy Lynn Bradley

23 (47 as of 2021)

Curaçao, Antilles

Bradley, an American passenger on the Royal Caribbean International cruise ship Rhapsody of the Seas, disappeared while the ship was docking in Curaçao.

[108]

3 March 1999

Yves Godard

43 (65 as of 2021)

Channel coast, France

French physician Godard along with his children Camille and Marius were last seen buying waffles from a street vendor in Bréhec, a small port on the western tip of Brittany. Their rented sailboat was found abandoned in Plouézec the next day. On 7–8 September, blood identified as that of Dr Godard's wife Marie-France was found in their camper van and in the family home. Fragments of the bodies of the three were recovered from the sea bed over the next few years. Godard's wife is still considered missing and the apparent multiple murders are unsolved. The case was officially closed in 2012 with only accidental death eliminated as a possibility.

[109]

Marie-France Godard

Unknown

Camille Godard

6 (28 as of 2021)

Marius Godard

4 (26 as of 2021)

7 July 2002

Bison Dele

33 (52 as of 2021)

Tahiti, French Polynesia

Dele, an American professional basketball player, is believed[by whom?] to have been murdered by his brother in the sea near Tahiti, French Polynesia in 2002.

.[110]

5 July 2005

George Allen Smith IV

26 (42 as of 2021)

Coast of Turkey

Smith, an American passenger on Brilliance of the Seas, disappeared from the ship and police suspect homicide.

[111]

28 January 2007

Jim Gray

63 (77 as of 2021)

San Francisco Bay, California, U.S.

Gray, a database pioneer, Microsoft Research scientist and Turing Award winner, left San Francisco Bay in his 12 m (39 ft) sailboat Tenacious to scatter his mother's ashes at the Farallon Islands, a wildlife refuge 43 km (27 mi) away. He was reported missing when he failed to return later the same day. No Mayday call was heard and his EPIRB was not activated. Despite an ambitious search and rescue mission, no trace of Gray or his yacht was ever found. In 2012, he was declared legally dead.

[112][113]

February 2007

Andrew McAuley

38 (52 as of 2021)

Tasman Sea

McAuley, an Australian adventurer best known for mountaineering and sea kayaking in remote parts of the world, is presumed to have died following his disappearance at sea while attempting to kayak 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) across the Tasman Sea. A recovered memory stick on the kayak records him attempting to make a distress call.

[114]

20 April 2007

Derek Batten

56 (70 as of 2021)

Shute Harbour, Australia

Kaz II, a 9.8 m (32 ft) catamaran, was found adrift on 20 April 2007 near Australia's Great Barrier Reef with its three-man crew, owner Derek Batten and brothers Peter and James Tunstead, missing. The yacht's sails were up and its engine was running. The global positioning system showed the yacht had been drifting since around the time of their last known radio contact, about 11 hours after they departed Shute Harbour for Townsville, Queensland, five days earlier.

[115]

Peter Tunstead

69 (83 as of 2021)

James Tunstead

63 (77 as of 2021)

9 November 2008

Tai Ching 21 fishing boat crew

Various

Kiribati

The burnt and abandoned wreck of the Tai Ching 21, a Taiwanese fishing boat, was found drifting on 9 November 2008 near Kiribati. It was assumed that when the fire proved beyond their ability to control, the 29-member crew evacuated using the lifeboat and three rafts that were missing. However, no distress call was received and an extensive search of the surrounding seas did not locate any of the crew or the lifeboats.

[116]

1 January 2009

Jure Šterk

72 (84 as of 2021)

Indian Ocean

In December 2007, Slovenian sailor Šterk left Tauranga in New Zealand to sail solo around the world on his yacht Lunatic. His last radio message was heard on 1 January 2009. Lunatic was spotted on 26 January, approximately 1,000 nmi (1,900 km) off the coast of Australia. The boat was damaged and there was no sign of Šterk. Three months later, on 30 April 2009, Lunatic was found adrift by the crew of the science vessel RV Roger Revelle

, 500 miles (800 km) south-eastern on position: 32°18′0″S 91°07′0″E. After boarding, it was found that the last log entry was made on 2 January 2009.

[117][118][119]

9 November 2009

Hubert Marcoux

68 (80 as of 2021)

North Atlantic Ocean

Sailing solo on his boat the Mon Pays, Marcoux left the Eastern Passage on 9 November 2009 to voyage from Nova Scotia to Bermuda. When he did not arrive, a search was conducted by Canadian and U.S. aircraft. Members of the Air National Guard later joined the search. Three days were spent scouring the ocean between Virginia and Bermuda. Officials said that he likely encountered a series of storms with wind gusts of more than 110 kilometers an hour and waves measuring 10 meters in height during his trip.

[120][121]

22 March 2011

Rebecca Coriam

24 (34 as of 2021)

Pacific Ocean near coast of Mexico

Coriam, an English crew member aboard the cruise ship Disney Wonder, was last seen when a security camera in the crew lounge recorded her having an upsetting telephone conversation. Some reports suggest she went overboard, but there is other evidence that she may have still been alive the following May.

[122]

20 June 2012

Guma Aguiar

35 (44 as of 2021)

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.

Aguiar, a Brazilian-born American industrialist and investor in the Beitar Jerusalem Football Club, was reported missing on 20 June 2012 after his unoccupied fishing boat was found on the coast of Fort Lauderdale. He was declared legally dead on 29 January 2015.

[123]

4 June 2013

Evi Nemeth and companions

73 (81 as of 2021)

Tasman Sea

Nemeth, an American computer engineer often described as the matriarch of system administration, disappeared along with several others aboard the yacht Niña that was between New Zealand and Australia on 4 June 2013. No trace of them has ever been found.

[124]

9 September 2018

Daniel Küblböck

33 (36 as of 2021)

Labrador Sea

The German pop singer jumped off the cruise ship AIDAluna into the sea and disappeared during a cruise from Hamburg to New York on 9 September 2018. Despite an intense search, he was not found, and the search was abandoned after eighty hours, as it was deemed impossible that he could still be alive.

[125][126][127]

People who disappeared mysteriously at sea solved cases[edit]

Here is a list of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea who reappeared or after disappearing their death became substantiated and ships that mysteriously disappeared either reappeared or were located.

13th century–1969[edit]

Date

Person(s)

Age

Missing from

Circumstances

12 November 1961

Terry Jo Duperrault

11

Bahamas

Duperrault was the single survivor of the massacre aboard the Bluebelle, in which the captain, Julian Harvey, murdered her parents, two siblings and his wife. She was rescued three-and-a-half-days later by the Captain Theo, and later told what had truly happened on board. Upon learning this, Harvey, who by then had returned to Miami, committed suicide.

[128]

1970–2009[edit]

Date

Person(s)

Age

Missing from

Circumstances

October 1982

Deborah Scaling Kiley

32

North Carolina coast, U.S.

American sailor and businesswoman whose boat, The Trashman, sank due to heavy weather off the coast of North Carolina, with multiple crew members dying. Kiley and the other survivors were rescued by a Soviet cargo ship five days later.

[129]

4 January 2009

Sonny Fai

20

Te Henga (Bethells Beach), New Zealand

Professional rugby player for the New Zealand Warriors who disappeared while trying to save his brother and four cousins from a rip current. While his body was never found, he was declared drowned a few months later.

[130]

2010–present[edit]

Date

Person(s)

Age

Missing from

Circumstances

29 September 2010

Richard Abruzzo

47

Adriatic Sea

American balloonist champion who, together with colleague Carol Rymer Davis, disappeared while competing for the Gordon Bennett Cup due to a thunderstorm. Their bodies were found more than a year later off the Italian coast.

[131]

Carol Rymer Davis

65

15 November 2017

ARA San Juan crew

Various

South Atlantic

The ARA San Juan was an Argentine submarine which mysteriously vanished while performing a training exercise. Despite search efforts, assisted by several nations, the fate of the submarine and its crew remained unknown until a year later, when marine robotics company Ocean Infinity discovered the sunken wreck.

[132]

23 January 2019

Emiliano Sala

28

English Channel, off Alderney, Channel Islands

Emiliano Sala was a professional footballer from Argentina who disappeared while he was on flight in Alderney. The plane that he was flying in had crashed in the Ocean. Sala was found dead just four days later.

[133][134]

See also[edit]

- Alexander Selkirk

- Cast Away

- Lists of people who disappeared

- Philip Ashton

- Robinson Crusoe

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